


the things that hold us together

by 00zombie



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Blood and Injury, Emotional, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gentle Kissing, Girls Kissing, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Literal Sleeping Together, Not Beta Read, Post-Battle, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27383200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00zombie/pseuds/00zombie
Summary: When Asuka gets hurt in a fight against an angel, Rei feels like she's falling apart. Soon, though, she gets put back together.
Relationships: Ayanami Rei/Souryuu Asuka Langley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48





	the things that hold us together

The locker room walls repressed the tense atmosphere and weighed it down. It was so quiet, Rei could only hear the other pilot breathing deeply in an attempt to calm her nerves.

PATTERN BLUE the neon screens had read; an angel had appeared, and they were ripped from their temporary comfort into a world of danger and uncertainty once again. Rei slipped into her pilot gear and glanced over at Asuka only to find her already looking over. She blushed and looked away. 

Rei's plugsuit contracted tightly around her, suffocating her more. She took as deep of a breath as she could muster and headed towards the exit, stopping a few paces past Asuka.

"Soryuu-san," she addressed briefly.

Rei turned around to face Asuka.

"Good luck." 

Asuka gave her a quick, grateful look before it morphed into her standoffish facade.

"Like I'll need it, wonder-girl," Asuka sneered and flipped her hair. She hurried out the door past Rei and further into the pre-battle tension.

***  
Asuka's plug lay crumpled underneath a large cliff with the hatch forced open and LCL fluid bleeding out. Not much further away, Rei and Asuka lay clinging to each other as Asuka slowly faded.

Rei could feel the blood stain the fingers of her plugsuit as she clutched Asuka in her arms. Help was being too slow, and Rei didn't want to think what would happen if they came too late.

"Soryuu-san, please stay alive. I-” she hesitated, “NERV needs you," Rei struggled to hold back a sob as she pulled her closer.

Asuka's breath was slipping into the death rattle, and Rei could already feel her heartbeat slow.

"Please, Asuka, you must not die here, I know you are strong enough to live."

Rei prayed to every god she doubted the existence of to save Asuka. Not long after that, the medical team arrived and Asuka was torn away from Rei’s arms into the care of doctors and medics, and Rei started to thank the gods.

***

The NERV hospital seemed much colder in atmosphere than Rei recalled. The walls were too sterile, and the coffee too bland. She had been here too many times to count; for things like test accidents, sickness, or anything that mildly scared the staff too much. Right now, though, she wasn’t important, it was Asuka.

Panic had crept into her body like a morning-glory vine on a desolate fence. Desolation, despair, dismay; it came with many names, and Rei memorized each word while running her fingers along walls. She could never forget the sense of urgency that shot through her when she first saw Unit 02 go down. After all, how can you forget the feeling of gnashing teeth pulling you apart by the seams? How can you forget images that are pounded into your head through every lifetime?

Rei’s fingers left tracks of dirt along the otherwise barren walls of the hospital, and the bumpy texture kept her grounded. Her rubber soles quickened the rhythm as Asuka’s door came into view, and already she longed to hear the unwavering beep of machinery and steady breaths of life. Finally, she could peek into the window. She gasped; Asuka was in much worse shape than Rei had previously thought. Bandages covered Pilot Number Two and obscured her face. Was this really Asuka, or was it just the body of a NERV pilot? Her blue eyes seemed faint when they watched Rei walk through the door. 

She turned too quickly out the door as fast as she had come, haunted by the afterimage of Asuka’s almost lifeless form from the last battle. She couldn’t stop thinking about what could have happened, or about the endless cycle that was bound to repeat itself. Was she doomed to feel this pain every time an angel disgraced them with their presence? Would she ever feel whole when she had been broken into so many parts? Would she and Asuka ever reunite?

Rei knew she couldn’t let this happen again, not even if it was part of Gendo’s foolish plan. She knew she had to reject what she had been programmed to do, and almost immediately her hands reached out to find the cool door handle. The door handle creaked and she peeked through the door at the patient.

“Asuka,” Rei stood firm at the door, careful not to come too close. “I am glad to see you are… in stable condition. I will be returning now, and I wish you a speedy recovery.”

“Rei,” Asuka spoke in a broken sob, and Rei was shattered. 

Tears welled up in their eyes as Rei stood in the doorway, hesitating to make another move just in case it all fell apart in front of her. Asuka smiled, and Rei knew that the pieces were starting to come together again.

“Shinji came by earlier today,” Asuka stated, and Rei started to close the door behind her. She pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed gingerly.

“I told him to fuck off and leave me alone. He didn’t of course. What an idiot,” she laughed dryly.   
“so I had to pretend I fell asleep to get him to leave.”

They sat there in silence, among the beeping of the hospital machines and Asuka’s impatient fingers drumming against the hospital bed. Neither of them knew who reached out to the other first, only that eventually their fingers interlocked and Rei suddenly felt warm all over. They pulled closer and closer and closer until-

Rei fell off the chair and stumbled on her knees. For a short while, she thought she had messed everything up, that Asuka thought she was too clumsy and a mindless idiot, but then she heard a snort, and laughter broke out. 

It was so freeing, to laugh without a care. It was like everything melted behind them, and all they could see was blue and red and happiness and warmth and everything was okay.

Rei got back up and pulled the chair back into its place. Asuka smiled at her, through chipped teeth and cracked lips, and all Rei wanted to do was kiss her. Her smile was so bright, Rei thought, it melted me back together. And when they are together, Rei has a place, she has meaning, she is meant to exist, and she does. She does, and it’s next to the girl who was meant to be her existence. Asuka is the girl with the red hair, who is assertive, and a brat, but that only gives her more life. Asuka is the girl who is life itself; fluid movements, with a loud voice, and a beautiful existence. Rei thinks they could be dancers. 

Their foreheads meet together in the hospital bed with the sheets that are too rough housing a girl that is too soft. Asuka’s breath wavers, and she felt a hand rest on her face while they think the world of each other.

“You really are a wonder girl,” Asuka said, and their lips meet together like they were always meant to do. Everything was finally in its place, and the universe stopped while they continued despite everything.

“You’re my wonder girl,” she looks up through ginger eyelashes and says, through kisses and gentle touches.

They don’t know how it happened, but Rei woke up to red hair brushing her face and a NERV nurse shaking her and pulling her out of Asuka’s arms. She tried to shush them so as to not wake up the sleeping patient, but her efforts are in vain as Asuka slowly rises and rubs the sand out of her eyes.

“You were not permitted to stay with this patient. She has not recovered enough to have long-term visitors,” the nurse says, and it’s much too harsh.

Rei reluctantly pushed Asuka back down on the bed, but she silently promised to visit again soon through a gentle smile and a hand laced through freckled fingers. Rei couldn’t dare halt Asuka’s recovery though, so she expected it wouldn't be for a while. Until then, they would both lay in bed in sheets that are too devoid of warmth and long for each other. Until then, they would be unraveled. 

They both can’t help but wish time went faster.

**Author's Note:**

> ummm hi so this is like my second serious fic i rly hope u like it ;////; its a bit short sroyyy im writing a much longer asurei fic tho like its taken a year ( it isnt long im just a perfectionist abt this one fic bc it has 2 be perfect !!! ) anyways if u want 2 follow me on twitter u can at https://twitter.com/AYANAMl_00 !! also please feel free 2 msg me w asurei reqs because i am always lookin 4 more writing practice <3


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